Riding again: Fatal tragedy won't stop cyclists

By Connie Eppichnews@fosters.com

Sunday

Sep 14, 2014 at 3:15 AMSep 14, 2014 at 6:55 PM

Peter LeBlanc, 67, of Nottingham, was riding in the 40th annual Granite State Wheelmen Tri-State Seacoast Century ride on Sept. 21, 2013. Heading north on Route 1A towards Hampton Beach State Park, he was about to overtake a group of four cyclists when he came to a traffic light as it turned yellow.

HAMPTON BEACH — Peter LeBlanc, 67, of Nottingham, was riding in the 40th annual Granite State Wheelmen Tri-State Seacoast Century ride on Sept. 21, 2013. Heading north on Route 1A towards Hampton Beach State Park, he was about to overtake a group of four cyclists when he came to a traffic light as it turned yellow. He decided to stop. That decision may have saved his life.

On the approach to the Neil R. Underwood Memorial Bridge, LeBlanc was just about to catch that group again when a fast-moving car coming from the opposite direction turned abruptly left and headed toward the four, as they were riding single file alongside the sidewalk curb.

The car “literally mowed them down,” said LeBlanc, bodies flying everywhere, some 15 feet into the air.

According to a Sept. 5 Foster's article, the driver, Darriean Hess, 20, of Seabrook, faces two counts of manslaughter, four alternative counts of negligent homicide and three counts of second-degree assault. Prosecutors allege Hess recklessly caused the deaths of Pamela Wells, 60, of South Hamilton, Mass., and Elise Bouchard, 52, of Danvers, Mass. Her trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 17.

One car, one driver, triggered a tidal wave of trauma that rippled throughout the bicycling community.

When LeBlanc saw the car, coming straight at him, there was nothing he could do.

LeBlanc, a Vietnam veteran, said, “I wake up every day seeing that.”

At the last minute the car turned right, missing LeBlanc, and ran off the other side of the road and hit the “Welcome to Seabrook” sign.

LeBlanc got off his bicycle and started up the road thinking, what do I do? He called 911. “It took me so long to dial,” he said.

As he talked to the dispatcher, he walked up to the victims.

Wells had been thrown over the sidewalk and guardrail; Uwe Uhmeyer, 61, of Essex, was lying on his back on the sidewalk; Bouchard was lying face down in the sand; Margo Heigh, 55, also of Danvers, was sitting down, looking like she was asleep. LeBlanc said he thought she was gone when she looked at him and said, “What happened?”

LeBlanc wanted to do something to help them, but the dispatcher insisted he stay on the line until emergency personnel arrived. Other cyclists and motorists stopped and did what they could.

LeBlanc told everyone, “Help is on the way.”

When emergency personnel arrived, a man came up, put his arm around LeBlanc, helped him sit down on the back bumper of the ambulance, calming him down.

Just north of the bridge was Hampton Beach State Park, where the ride had started. Cyclists riding the full century, or 100 miles, began with a 17-mile loop that took them into Massachusetts and then back to the starting point.

A friend helped LeBlanc walk his bike across the bridge to his motorhome, parked at the state park.

He was done. He called his brother and son. They drove him home.

LeBlanc couldn't ride after that for about a month. When he began riding again, he panicked every time a car went by.

It is the worst thing he has ever had to deal with, LeBlanc said, “to see two human beings dead on the side of the road.”

Jim Schofield, 48, of Manchester, was riding behind LeBlanc. He, too, almost caught up with the group of four, but had slowed down to wait for a friend.

Schofield went to look after the driver while his friend looked after the cyclists. After the EMTs and police arrived, Schofield said, “The best thing we could do was get out of the way.”

Schofield walked over the bridge and put his bike in his truck, but his friend talked him into finishing. The ride was somber. “It wasn't like we were out there enjoying the ride,” he said.

In reality, if he were the one hit, Schofield said, he wouldn't want the ride to stop. “I'm glad I did it. It might have changed me if I hadn't.”

The ride, her first century in 20 years, began as a joyous culmination of a summer of training for Kate Milne, 48, of Dover, and her friend, Wendy Rousseau.

They had completed the first loop and, just before the bridge, they came to a stop. At first all they knew was that there had been an accident. They figured it was a car accident and would just be a short stop. Then they heard it involved bicyclists and thought two riders had collided, no big deal.

When the news came that it was a car and riders, Milne said, “it got scary.”

They each had friends and acquaintances on the ride and, at the time, didn't know where they were.

As it turned out, they did not know the cyclists who were hit. Still, they questioned whether to go on. It felt disrespectful to continue, said Milne, but it also felt disrespectful to quit.

The ride wasn't “anything anymore,” said Milne. “These two riders lost their lives. But when you think from the perspective of those riders who loved cycling, then it was right to continue.”

For some time after, Milne said, “I was very, very afraid to ride.”

Michael Hurst, 66, of Windham, driving a support van for the ride, came upon the scene just as the police arrived. He gave one woman, a very experienced cyclist, a ride back because she could no longer ride after what she had seen. Then he returned to redirect riders because by then the bridge was closed, and would stay closed for about three hours.

Maybe only a dozen people witnessed the crash, said Hurst, but “everyone was totally shaken by what had happened, everyone saying we need to ride for them.”

“I actually ended up with my own trauma around it,” Hurst said. He couldn't ride for about a month. “It still upsets me.”

A year later, LeBlanc, Schofield, Milne, and Hurst are on their bikes, their passion for cycling giving them the determination to overcome the anxieties left behind by the tragedy of last September.

That passion is bringing Uhmeyer back to New Hampshire to ride again this year.

The Granite State Wheelmen Tri-State Seacoast Century ride takes place Sept. 20-21 this year.

“For me, I need to do the 2014 Seacoast Century,” Uhmeyer said, “because I can, and for Elise and Pam because they can't; I'm riding for them.”

Uhmeyer and Bouchard were good friends from work, sharing a passion for cycling. Since he worked with her he still sees her name on documents. “I think about Elise a lot,” he said.

Uhmeyer didn't see the car coming. When he rides in a pace line, he said, he keeps his eyes on the rider in front of him. It was Heigh, Bouchard, Uhmeyer and Wells. They were going about 20 mph, Uhmeyer said, so if the car was coming at them at a speed of about 60 mph, the impact was 80 mph.

Uhmeyer's list of injuries is a long one, but, miraculously, none were life-threatening. He spent four days in the hospital, was out of work two months, and in a neck brace for three months. After six months he was back on his bike.

“I'm not going to let this change what I do,” Uhmeyer said. In July he bought a new bicycle.

Uhmeyer said that Heigh rode in the Mt. Washington Hill Climb in August for Bouchard and Wells.

Uhmeyer participated in a century ride in August that went over the same bridge where the crash took place. He stopped at the memorial for Bouchard and Wells to pay his respects.

“I broke down with incredible emotion,” he said.

The accident, said Uhmeyer, has made him “appreciate every day as a gift.”

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